Biofeedback systems can be used for a variety of purposes, such as to address behavioral disorders, such as Attention Deficit Disorder, and for training job-related physiological activity.
In brainwave biofeedback training, for example, the trainee is typically provided information in the form of a conventionally produced electroencephalograph (EEG) display which shows him how much he is producing the brainwave pattern(s) indicative of attention and/or inattention. This display is typically in bland, minimally motivating formats, and trains individuals by focusing their attention directly on the status of targeted physiological signals. For example, this feedback frequently consists of a video representation of the EEG graph. The procedure, though providing useful information, is often very limited in variation and predictable, and accordingly can induce boredom. This can lead to frustration when progress is slow, and makes it hard to encourage simultaneous desirable changes in multiple physiological parameters due to limitations in ability to attend to multiple signals. Positive reinforcement of attention states can accordingly be difficult to obtain, especially in children.
Additionally, with increased sophistication in technology, human performance has increasingly become an important, frequently limiting, factor in the proper performance of many advanced technology job-related tasks. For example, both inattention and stress overload can play a substantial role in impairing pilot performance and producing flight hazards. Current biofeedback methods are hard to apply to job-related physiological training because the necessary focus on physiological feedback signals can distract trainees from challenging professional tasks. The ability to control physiological activity, such as to control stress or to remain aware of fluctuating attentional states, the ability to maintain effective physiological states, and the ability to recover efficiently from attention lapses or other ineffective physiological states are valuable in task settings requiring recognition and response.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,100 to Pope et al. entitled “Method of Encouraging Attention by Correlating Video Game Difficulty with Attention Level” demonstrates the concept of improving attention skill by rewarding specific brain signal patterns with success at playing an action video game. The game is virtually impossible to win until the player exhibits the required brain signal patterns that accompany normal vs. attention-deficit behavior. Once the player exhibits the required “normal” brain signal patterns the game becomes manageable. A measurement system senses EEG signals and routes them to the computer where the game difficulty control sinal is derived. This invention has the disadvantage of requiring extensive reprogramming of a video game, or the complete construction of a new video game, in order to implement the method. Because much video game software is proprietary and/or not available in source code, this software would be unusable for implementing the method.
Some commercial products, for example, “The Mind Drive,” sense physiological signals and use the signals alone to drive a video game. Because products like “The Mind Drive” do not deliver biofeedback training while the trainee is playing a game or performing a task in a conventional way, this method does not reinforce desirable physiological changes in the realistic context of task performance. Products like Mind Drive, too, have the disadvantage of requiring extensive video game programming in order to implement the method.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,820 to Pope et al. (incorporated by reference herein in its entirety) modulates an electronic game controller using the physiological signals being produced by the player who is manually operating the game controller. This method does not translate well to the situation where a player is very physically active while operating the game controller, such as the Nintendo Wii remote controller (Nintendo and Wii are registered trademarks of Nintendo of America, Inc.), because much movement may disrupt or confound the sensing of physiological signals. The prior art method also does not encompass the situation where a combination of physical game controller input and physiological input from two (or more) different players acting cooperatively combines to affect game performance.